The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

After brief training from the CIA, Allan travels to the American embassy in Moscow and tries to figure out how to get in touch with Yury, who lives in the clandestine city of Sarov, where the Soviets carry out their nuclear research. Realizing that he can’t get into Sarov, Allan goes to the Bolshoi Theater, expecting that Yury and his wife Larissa will attend one of their favorite operas. Allan stands outside the theater as the opera concludes holding a sign that reads, “I AM ALLAN EMMANUEL” (345). Yury is shocked to find that Allan survived the gulag and the fire that destroyed Vladivostok. He has his driver take them to the Puskhin Restaurant, where they share several drinks, and Allan explains he has come to turn Yury into an American spy. Astonished and fearful, Yury immediately rejects the proposal, but his wife describes the many benefits they’ll enjoy if they defect to the US. Their meeting is so completely open that none of the Soviet agents around them suspect that it could be clandestine. Thus, Yury becomes an American agent.

Allan and Yury decide they must provide information that is only partially true and that suits the needs of the current American president. This makes their task more confusing. Jonasson writes, “Politics was often not only unnecessary, but sometimes also unnecessarily complicated” (351). The men meet every few months when Yury and Larissa come to Moscow for an opera. Together, they create a report of the Soviet nuclear arsenal that’s partially correct and intended to suit first Nixon, then Carter, and finally Reagan. After the death of Brezhnev, the Soviet Premier, the CIA makes good on its promise to transport Yury and Larissa to New York, where they regularly attended the Metropolitan Opera through the ends of their lives.

Jonasson begins this chapter with the backstory of Amanda Einstein after the death of her husband, Herbert. Their two sons, both bright and successful, are now in their fifties. Amanda is delighted to hear from Allan and promises to host him and his entourage in her hotel in Bali, even if she must kick out paying guests.

Prosecutor Ranelid holds another press conference in which he blames Kicki, the police dog, for inaccurately indicating that a corpse had been on the trolley. He also states that he learned the Never Again gang members were Christian evangelicals. An investigation into the death of Henrik Hultén (Bucket) is forthcoming, though the case of Bengt Bylund (Bolt) is closed since it’s clear that he had died while in Djibouti to join the French Foreign Legion. Ranelid refuses to tell the media where they can find Allan’s group. The media apparently accepts the prosecutor’s explanation.

Allan has difficulty transporting the entourage from Sweden to Bali. Eventually, he contracts with an Indonesian plane that has very few regulations and is unconcerned about visas and veterinarians. The crew flies 11 hours to Bali, where the air traffic control tower asks them about their permission to land. Allan gets on the radio and identifies himself: “My name is Dollars […] One Hundred Thousand Dollars” (367). When the controllers tell him that his signal is garbled, Allan identifies himself as “Two Hundred Thousand” (367) and asks if they have permission to land. Within the hour, the entire group—which now includes the original four as well as Pike, Pike’s mother, and Göran—have checked into Amanda’s hotel. Bali quickly becomes a kind of paradise for each member of Allan’s crew. He and Amanda fall in love and marry.

After Allan returns from the Moscow embassy, he discovers that he has accrued a large salary and has collected a pension from the Swedish government, which reminds him of how old he’s become. He’s been living strictly on his expense account money. He returns to Sweden and lives as a hermit in a cottage outside Yxhult, raising chickens and a keeping a rescued cat, “Molotov, not after the minister but after the cocktail” (373). Allan reads newspapers to keep up with world events in the countries he impacted over the years.

A fox that has for years chased Molotov and tried to get to the chickens finally catches up with the aging cat. Allan grieves over the loss of his cat and, uncharacteristically, decides to seek revenge. He sets a dynamite trap that the fox detonates. Unexpectedly, the explosion also ignites the rest of Allan’s dynamite, destroying his house and throwing him into a snow drift. Allan must find a new place to live and ends up in the Old Folks’ Home, which he dislikes. Allan decides that he’ll die and goes to sleep one night imagining that it’ll be the night of his death. He’s therefore surprised when he awakes alive the next morning. With his To celebrate his 100th birthday, he decides to turn over a new page in his life.

Word for word, this chapter repeats Chapter 1: Allan Karlsson, in a desperate attempt to avoid his own 100th birthday party, opens his bedroom window and escapes the Old Folks Home. However, given all that has happened, the occurrence generates a completely different understanding of his motivation.

Allan and Amanda are surprised to discover that Allan can successfully have sexual intercourse. Hearing that the Internet is interesting to young people, Allan buys Amanda a laptop, and she figures out how to blog—and blogs about Allan.

While Allan is sitting on the beach in Bali, an official of the Indonesian government approaches and asks him if he’ll help Indonesia acquire the atomic bomb. Allan agrees to help.